


The Perfect Fit

by supersapphics



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 14:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19320319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supersapphics/pseuds/supersapphics
Summary: Clary works at a market in the park selling her jewelry. Isabelle is her favorite new customer.





	The Perfect Fit

**Author's Note:**

> idek what this is. i was at a market in a park today and i got inspired while i was there ig. hope y'all like it!

 

 

“It’s so hot,” Clary whines, resting her head on her folded forearms. A moment later she raises her head again, grimacing at the sweat which has transferred from her arms to her face.

“Here,” Helen says, and when Clary turns her head, Helen quickly spritzes her with a spray bottle.

“Oh my god, keep doing that,” Clary begs, tilting her face upward for better access.

“Your wish is my command,” Helen giggles, continuing to spray.

“It looks like you’re having fun, but we do have a customer waiting,” Aline interrupts, not bothering to hide her smirk.

Clary’s head snaps up to see a beautiful woman standing before her. She has long dark hair swept up in a high ponytail and is wearing a white sundress made of sheer material – so sheer that Clary thinks she can detect the outline of the woman’s bra underneath. She immediately rips her gaze away, praying fervently that she isn’t blushing, and forces herself to make eye contact with the woman.

“Can I help you?” she asks, relieved that her voice comes out steady.

“I was wondering if I could look at that piece right there,” the woman says, pointing. Clary follows with her gaze and sees the piece of jewelry the woman is referring to.

“Sure.” She rises from her chair and brings the bracelet back to the counter.

“This is such a lovely piece,” the woman remarks. “How much?”

“$175,” Clary answers, sucking in a breath as her hand brushes with the woman’s when she hands over the jewelry.

“May I try it on?”

“Go for it.”

The woman picks up the bracelet and slides it onto her wrist. It suits her perfectly – the small diamonds inlaid in the band match perfectly with the color of her dress. The woman seems to realize this, because she looks back up at Clary with a smile and says, “It looks good on me.”

“It does,” Clary agrees, her voice catching a little. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Helen and Aline exchanging smirks and she knows without a doubt that they’re going to tease the hell out of her as soon as the woman is gone.

“I’ll take it,” the woman announces. She pulls out her credit card and hands it over. Once again, their hands brush together with the movement, and Clary finds herself flustered once again.

“How long are you here?” the woman asks.

“Every Monday through Saturday until 6:00 P.M.”

“Until the last Saturday in August,” Aline chips in.

“Great, then I’ll definitely be back,” the woman says, smiling at Clary. “Have a nice rest of your day.”

“You too,” Clary says, and, of course, watches her until she’s out of sight. The second she’s gone, Helen grabs Clary’s alarm.

“She was _totally_ flirting with you, Clary!”

“She was not!” Clary protests instantly. “She was a _customer._ ”

“And she flat out ignored us the entire time,” Aline adds. “I mean, not in a rude way, but she had her laser focus on _you._ ”

“She didn’t,” Clary continues to argue. “She was just being polite to me because I was selling her something.”

“Whatever you say. But she _said_ she’d be back soon –”

“That’s just something you say,” Clary interrupts Helen. “To be nice.”

“You tell someone you’ll _definitely_ be back just to be nice?” Aline repeats, raising her eyebrows.

“Yes,” says Clary firmly. She _wants_ to believe her friends, but she also doesn’t want to get her hopes up. That woman had been the most beautiful person she’d ever seen, so why on earth would she be interested in Clary? No, it was better to keep her hopes…nonexistent.

“Ok, we’ll drop it,” Aline promises, reaching over to squeeze Clary’s hand. “We were just rooting for you, is all.”

“Thanks,” Clary says, smiling at her friend. “I appreciate it, but I just doubt that my love story is going to be like yours and Helen’s. I mean, for you two it was like straight out of a movie.”

It was true, Clary wasn’t exaggerating – the two of them had met in the first year of uni when Helen had been crossing a courtyard and had abruptly tripped, spilling her books everywhere. Several people had walked past without sparing her a glance, but then Aline had appeared and graciously offered her help. Their eyes had met while Aline had been handing Helen her government textbook back and the rest was history.

“It was,” Aline agrees, “but if it can happen for us, it can happen for you too.”

“We’ll see,” Clary demurs.

 

 

The beautiful woman doesn’t show up again over the next few days. Clary almost tells Helen and Aline “I told you so” but decides that would be a bit immature and holds it back. She can sense her friends exchanging glances behind her back every time a customer approaches their booth and Clary’s shoulders slump a little with disappointment when it’s not her.  

And then, exactly one week later, she appears again. Clary is rearranging some of the display pieces when she hears a throat cleared behind her.

“May I help you?” she asks, turning around, and stifles a gasp when she sees who it is.

“Hi! I promised you I’d be back,” the woman says, grinning. Her smile fades when Clary doesn’t answer right away and then, with a touch of self-doubt in her voice, she says a little more quietly, “You probably don’t remember me, sorry…”

“No, I do,” Clary hastens to assure her. “I do. Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you.”

“Sorry. I can only visit on the weekends because of work. But I was always planning to return. I’m Isabelle, by the way. I might as well tell you that since I’m planning to come back often.” She extends her hand.

Clary can barely believe what’s happening. Neither Aline nor Helen are here; they’d both left on their lunch break fifteen minutes ago, which means she won’t see either of them for another 45 minutes. But she doesn’t need her best friends to tell her that Isabelle’s behavior doesn’t seem normal for an exchange between customer and salesperson.

“I’m Clary.” She slips her hand inside Isabelle’s and has to forcibly restrain herself from shivering at the contact.

“Nice to meet you, Clary.” Isabelle smiles warmly at her. “So, I think I’d like a necklace today.”

“Sure.” Clary brings over a case to the counter. “Something to match the bracelet?”

“Please.” Isabelle holds up her wrist to show the bracelet dangling there.

To be completely honest, Clary hadn’t noticed the bracelet before. She’d been too distracted by the dress Isabelle is wearing – dark red, tight, with spaghetti straps and a skirt that ends several inches above the knee. Her hair is also loose today, but despite the heat, there’s no sign of sweat on her.

“Sure. We have this, for just under $100.” Clary holds up a necklace with a fine silver chain carrying a disc-shaped diamond pendant.

“That’s beautiful,” Isabelle murmurs. “Would you help me put it on?”

“…..Sure.” Clary waits for Isabelle to brush her hair out of the way and turn around before she carefully loops the chain around Isabelle’s neck. She tries not to touch Isabelle’s bare skin too much as she does so, but it’s pretty much unavoidable. Isabelle shifts slightly when Clary’s fingertips graze the back of her neck and Clary finds herself holding her breath.

“Take a look,” she says softly when she’s finished fastening the necklace. Isabelle slowly turns around and looks at herself in the mirror hanging next to the counter.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“Me? I think it looks really great on you. But you didn’t need me to tell you that,” she adds, feeling a sudden surge of boldness. “You can see it for yourself.”

“I wanted a second opinion,” Isabelle explains, turning back towards her. “Do you make this all by yourself, by the way? You and your colleagues?”

“We do,” Clary confirms. “It just started out as a hobby in uni but we were lucky enough to be able to turn it into a career after we graduated. We have our normal store in Manhattan but we come out here every summer too.”

“Who runs the shop for you while you’re here?”

“Dot and Catarina. Dot was a friend of my mom’s when I was growing up and was always like a big sister to me, and so she and her wife help us out whenever they can.”

“That sounds like a really great deal,” Isabelle says, smiling. “Although I can’t believe I’ve never heard of your store before. I only heard of this market by chance and I have to say, I’m really glad I did.”

“Well…” Clary reaches underneath the counter and pulls out a business card. “Here’s the address of our store in Manhattan, that way you can go there instead if you want, instead of having to trek out here.”

Isabelle takes the card but stuffs it into her purse without looking at it. “I don’t mind coming here. I mean, this is a really pretty park the market is located in, and besides, I know you better than Dot and Catarina.”

Clary can’t help herself from smiling. “Well, I certainly won’t complain if you continue showing up here.”

Isabelle beams at her. “I have to go. I don’t technically work on Saturdays, but I always need to be just a phone call away. I’ll be back next week though.”

“I look forward to it.” Clary returns her smile and for a moment they both stand still, just staring at one another. Then Isabelle’s phone begins buzzing loudly in her purse.

“What did I say,” Isabelle says with a chuckle. “See you, Clary.”

“See you.” She watches Isabelle pull her phone from her purse and raise it to her ear as she walks away. She watches until Isabelle is gone from sight, because she’s pathetic and has a huge crush, so sue her.

 

 

“She _said_ she’d rather come to the market than go the store? Because you’re here? Clary! That’s indisputable flirting!!” Helen gushes.

“You two are reading too much into it,” Clary says, flapping her hands at her in a dismissive gesture. “She’s just a customer. And she _also_ said that she likes coming here because of the location.”

“You’re forgetting she also asked you to put on the necklace for her. She could’ve done that herself, but no, she wanted you to touch her,” Aline says.

“Like I said, you’re reading too much into it,” Clary begins, but she immediately shuts up when she sees Isabelle approaching.

“Isabelle? What are you – I wasn’t expecting you until next week.”

“I know, I was just here four hours ago,” Isabelle says, smiling a touch sheepishly. “But I had to come back for something.”

“Oh? Did I forget to give you your receipt, or –?”

“I forgot to ask you out to dinner,” Isabelle interrupts. “Would you be interested in getting a sandwich with me? There’s a stand a few feet away that sells some pretty good ones.”

Clary glances over at Helen and Aline, who nod encouragingly at her. “It seems to be ok with my colleagues, so sure. My shift’s almost over anyway.”

“You take the whole hour,” Aline says, mock glaring at her. “We’re fine here.” Helen even goes as far as to make shooing motions. So Clary grabs her bag and steps out from behind the counter.

She and Isabelle walk side by side toward the sandwich stand. “Your friends were right, by the way,” Isabelle says after a moment. “What they said about me flirting with you, I mean. I was.”

“You were.” Clary can scarcely believe it. She’d suspected, but she’d never dared to hope. And now Isabelle is confirming it.

“From the very beginning. Last week was my first time at this market and when I was approaching your stand, I saw you and knew immediately that I had to talk to you.”

“But…why me?”

“You’re beautiful. And then I started talking to you and you were funny and sweet and adorable. What more can a girl want? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love your jewelry and I would’ve come back even if I wasn’t attracted to you. But since I am attracted to you, and very much so, the jewelry was actually just an added bonus?”

They come to a stop outside the sandwich stand. Clary just stares at Isabelle, stunned.

“If you’re not interested, that’s fine,” Isabelle continues. “I mean, sure, I’ll be very disappointed, but I’ll leave you alone with no complaint.”

“No!” Clary says quickly. “No, I’m very interested, I promise. I’m just…I thought you were way out of my league.”

“Maybe it’s time you looked in a mirror,” Isabelle murmurs, stepping closer. “I promise you though, I’m not out of your league. And I can prove it.”

“How?” Clary asks, whisper soft.

“Like this.” Isabelle cups Clary’s face in her hands and kisses her. It’s soft and brief, but it’s perfect and Clary loves it. A shiver shudders down her spine and she keeps her eyes closed even after the kiss ends.

“Convinced?” Isabelle asks, sounding amused. Clary’s eyes flutter open to see Isabelle watching her affectionately.

“Not quite. I think I’ll need a little bit more convincing.”

“It will be my pleasure,” Isabelle murmurs, and their lips meet again.       

 


End file.
